Exam Announcements

Exams are right around the corner! In case your student has not updated you, here are a few announcements for exam week:

- We start exam schedule this Friday, the 10th. We go to 4 blocks a day, with study sessions for the exams that are the next day. The first exam is Monday, the 13th and is for the D1 class. D2 and D7 test on Tuesday, D3 and D6 on Wednesday, D4 and D7 on Thursday. If your student takes blocked classes, they know that it runs like a "Wednesday schedule"

- Honors and Standard World Geography students will receive a study guide with key ideas this Thursday. Standard students are allowed to make a "cheat sheet" (one piece of notebook paper, front and back) based on the study guide, use it on the exam, and turn it in for 5 bonus points on the exam.

- Honors and Standard World Geography students will begin their study day project on Thursday. They will receive detailed instructions for this. It will be a classwork grade.

- AP students will review in class on the study day but are expected to begin reviewing prior to the study day. The AP semester exam is a full, timed multiple choice that will be taken in the library to emulate the real exam. It will be 75 questions, 60 minutes timed.

All students will need a pencil for the exam. Pencils will not be provided.

Wednesday, October 27th

Honors/Standard: Advisory #3, Lifeline - what makes you who you are?

AP: Review Unit 2, Notecards due today!

Tuesday, October 26th

Honors and Standard: Labeled map of Europe

AP: Reviewed Unit 2 for test

Monday, October 25th

Honors and Standard: Quiz 2.2 (Honors - Short Answer, Standard - Multiple Choice)

AP: Interviews with Mr. McNeal's ESL students

Friday, October 22nd

Honors: Reviewed Unit 2, created Unit 2 Title Page

Standard: Finished Atlas assignment, reviewed Unit 2, created Unit 2 title page

AP: Migration

AP: article on Cholera in Haiti

Here's a CNN article on the recent Cholera outbreak in Haiti - remember, cholera is a stage two epidemic, so this probably shows Haiti's backwards shift after the earthquake. Or, does it represent a stage five epidemic, showing the results of poverty?

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/10/21/haiti.cholera/index.html?hpt=T1

Thursday, October 21st

Honors: Environmental Protections, discussed deforestation and drilling in the arctic, HW = paragraph reflection on drilling in ANWR

Standard: video on Environmental Issues

AP: Faces of America documentary

Wednesday, October 20th

Honors/Standard: Advisory #2, Labels - discussed labels others give us and created the inside/outside me

AP: Migration

Tuesday, October 19th

Honors: Environmental Issues - discussed ways humans cause environmental issues like deforestation and pollution, HW: Environment advocacy poster

Standard: Environmental Protection, learned about ANWR, made a pro/con list for drilling in ANWR

AP: Migration

Remade in America - NY Times

AP - If you want to explore the interactive website more in class that we used, here's the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/03/10/us/20090310-immigration-explorer.html

Monday, October 18th

Honors: discussed current events article on MLGW vs. Mississippi water case, worked on Think Show!

Standard: learned about ways humans affect our environment negatively (deforestation, pollution, smog, acid rain, etc). HW = to make a poster advocating one of the environmental issues

AP: discussed basics of migration (emigration, immigration, net migration, internal vs international, etc), watched a PBS Frontline documentary on border migration in Mexico and the corruption there.

Friday, October 15th

Honors: Focused on the idea of scarcity, discussed potential conflicts with natural resources, finished natural resources mapping activity

Standard: Defined scarcity, finished natural resources mapping activity

AP: Practiced Free Response Question for Population, actual FRQ from 2008 AP Exam

Maps

Here's a great blog post from strange maps about a funky globe depicting Berlin. I especially like the first part talking about distortion of the globe when transcribed onto 2-D form. You should remember that from the beginning of the year... All Maps Lie. 

http://bigthink.com/ideas/24545?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+bigthink%2Fblogs%2Fstrange-maps+%28Strange+Maps%29

AP Unit 2 (Population and Migration) Vocab Lists

Here's the links to the vocab definitions if you need them for your notecards:

Population Vocab

Migration Vocab

AP: epidemelogy in the news

AP kids - check out this article about the history of cancer. It relates to what we talked about today. 

http://pagingdrgupta.blogs.cnn.com/2010/10/14/how-the-ancient-world-dealt-with-cancer/?hpt=C2

Thursday, October 14th

Honors and Standard: Renewable and Non Renewable Resources, continued to work on resources activity

AP: Epidemiology and Hans Rosling TED video on Asia's rise to power

Wednesday, October 13th

Honors and Standard: Advisory Day One, Conflict Management

AP: Malthus population growth

Tuesday, October 12th

Honors: Reviewed Nine Weeks Test, introduced Natural Resources

Standard: Natural Resources vocab, started mapping distribution of Natural Resources (in class activity)

AP: Reviewed Free Response Question results from Unit One

Monday, October 11th

Happy Columbus Day (and Fall Break!) - I enjoyed meeting parents tonight and discussing progress in class. It was wonderful to see you all. If you would like to get in touch with me, please note my email address on the right hand tool bar. 

As a current events connection, check out this news article from today: 
http://www.myeyewitnessnews.com/news/local/story/2-Injuries-Reported-After-2-Quakes-Hit-Arkansas/RtYzRanpvE2zZ6y2yVaaSA.cspx?rss=59

Arkansas had two earthquakes! Students, there's tectonic activity in action. 

Thursday, Oct. 7th

Hon/Stan: Nine Weeks Exam *note: please check Power Connect parent portal to view updated grades!!

AP: Discussed examples of the Demographic Transition model, received Population Activity (due Tuesday)

Wednesday, October 6th

Hon/Stan: Learned about weather patterns, how we get our weather, and when it goes bad (natural disasters) - saw video clips on tornadoes and hurricanes

AP: Discussed Demographic Transition Model (7th) and Population Pyramids (4th)

Tuesday, October 5th

Hon/Stan: We finished climate by discussing the 12 climate zones, learning about orographic effect, El Nino, and other variances in climate. Standard classes received a vocab list for their nine weeks exam.

AP: Discussed Demographic Transition Model (4th) and Population Pyramids (7th).

Friday, October 1st

Honors/Standard: Documentary from Planet Earth, "Pole to Pole" investigating the climates found around the world

AP: Documentary on population growth and decline from NOVA, "World In Balance"

Thursday, September 30th

Honors/Standard: Worked on Climate Zones (Honors - notes, Standard - foldable).

AP: RCQ in 4th, 7th progressed on to Demographic Transition Model

Wednesday, September 29th

Honors/Standard: 3rd period quizzed (due to being off schedule from homecoming), all others introduced Climate with notes on 4 factors of climate and began study of Climate Zones

AP: 4th did not meet due to PLAN test, 7th took RCQ 2.1/2.2

Tuesday, September 28th

Honors/Standard: Quiz 2.1 - if you were absent, please retake!

AP: discussed demographics, read article from ABC news on Infant Mortality Rate in Memphis

Monday, September 27th

Honors and Standard: Finished water, discussed when there is too much/not enough water, HW = study for quiz tomorrow

AP: Discussed sparsely populated lands, density. HW: Read 53-57

Nine Weeks Exam Oct. 7th

Grading Period ends Oct. 7th!

Friday, September 24th

HOMECOMING DAY - Pep Rally in morning, Parade in afternoon

2nd, 5th, and 6th: finished guided reading

Thursday, September 23rd

Honors and Standard: Reviewed distribution of Earth's water, read basics of water on Earth and did a guided reading handout (16 questions, classwork grade). HW: Honors - Pie Charts of water distribution (fresh vs. salt and different kids of fresh), Standard - story board of water

AP: Discussed concentration of world's population (4 centers, why they are there), read 49-53

Wednesday, September 22nd

Honors and Standard: South America Map Quiz, Intro to water as classwork afterwards

AP: Assigned textbooks introduced Population unit

Tuesday, September 21st

Honors: (Shortened Class Time) - Reviewed 4 spheres of the Earth, explained difference between weathering and erosion together in own words

Standard: (3rd period shortened class time) Reviewed 4 spheres, learned about primary vs secondary landform creation, HW = list of landforms, label P or S for Primary and Secondary

AP: Reviewed Answers for Unit One exam

Monday, September 20th

Honors and Standard: Review Plate Tectonics, Introduce four spheres of outer Earth, notes on Internal/External Landform Creation, Erosion, Weathering, Sediment Deposit

Honors - Videos, HW: Explain difference between weathering and erosion
Standard - Cartoon Strip on 4 spheres

AP: 4th - review answers for Unit One Test, 7th - Free Response Question portion of Unit One Test

Friday, September 17th

Honors: Spotlight on 2004 Asian Tsunami and the earthquake in Haiti

Standard: Final notes on plate tectonics (continental drift and fault lines) and exploring earthquakes, volcanoes, and tsunamis

AP: Free Response Question portion of Unit One test

Thursday, September 16th

Honors: Continued plate tectonics, learned about continental drift and causes for volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis - watched several video clips from National Geographic. HW = choose one of the three video topics to write a 1 paragraph reflection on

Standard: Continued Earth's layers by discussing plate tectonics, the movement of the plates at the boundaries, working towards why we have earthquakes and volcanoes. HW = graphic organizer

AP: Unit I Multiple Choice Exam (Congratulations to John S, Miguel, Leslie, Breana, and Lorenzo for their high scores)

Wednesday, September 15th

Honors: Continued study of the Earth by discussing plate tectonics, following the question "Why do we have earthquakes and volcanoes?". Notes on Plate Tectonics, HW = Graphic Organizer

Standard: Began Unit Two - Foundations of Geography 2 by exploring the layers of the Earth. Notes on the 4 layers of the Earth, HW = diagram

AP: Reviewed Unit One

Tuesday, September 14th

Honors: Began Unit 2, notes on Layers of the Earth, HW = cartoon strip

Standard: Finished labelling South America, creating summary through Unit One Title Page, conferenced about missing projects

AP: RCQ 1.3, HW = study for Unit One Test

France bans burqas

A very relevant current events article for you to read:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/09/14/france.burqa.ban/index.html?hpt=T2

South America Map

Honors and Standard World Geography: Lost your South America Map? Click here to print another.

Monday, September 13th

Honors: Got quizzes back, labelled South America map, created Unit One title page to complete our study of Unit One
HW = finish classwork, new material tomorrow!

Standard: turned in Unit One projects, labelled South America map, created Unit One title page to complete our study of Unit One
HW = finish classwork, new material tomorrow!

AP: Turned in notecards, discussed diffusion of culture
HW = RCQ 1.3 tomorrow, Unit 1 test on Thursday and Friday

Friday, September 10th

Honors and Standard: Quiz 1.2 (makeups available after school), afterwards worked on Unit One Project

AP: Discussed spatial relationships, space/time compression, spatial interaction, and distance decay. HW = notes 35-39, notecards due Monday

Thursday, September 9th

Honors and Standard: Finished Unit One Project

AP: Discussion of Distribution in Space

Note: Quiz 1.2 tomorrow in H/S

Wednesday, September 8th

Honors and Standard: Reviewed Region Types (Formal, Functional, Vernacular), Started on Unit One Project

AP: Globalization Lecture - HW, Finish Key Issue 3

AP Unit One Notecards

AP students, your notecards are due Monday, Sept 13th as we discussed in class. Please do not wait until the last minute to do this! You can find the terms defined through the link under AP Human Geography at the top of this page and if you lose your hand out, go to the downloads page to download your hand out again. 

 

Tuesday, September 7th

Honors: Presented Rotation, Revolution, and Tilt in groups (project grade given, rubric handed back). Notes on Regions (Formal, Functional, Vernacular).

Standard: Reviewed Rotation, Revolution, and Tilt. Notes on Regions, HW = Graphic Organizer

AP: 7th turned in RCQ, Intro-ed Key Issue 3, discussed globalization. 4th HW = Read 30-35, notes.

Friday, September 3rd

I want to remind the students that we have Quiz 1.2 on Friday, September 10th!

Honors: Reviewed the movements of the Earth, worked in groups on in-class presentations

Standard: Reviewed Rotation, Revolution, and Tilt, discussed solstices and equinoxes, created our foldables (3 tabs and a title). HW: finish foldable

AP: 4th period turned in RCQ 1.2, started McDonalds globalization activity. 7th period discussed Key Issue 2, started RCQ 1.2. HW: Assigned Key Issue notecards (due Sept 13th)

Thursday, September 2nd

Hello students and parents!

Today in class we...
Honors: finished notes on Earth's movements by studying the solstices and equinoxes, then finished our foldable from yesterday. HW = to finish foldable.

Standard: reviewed Rotation, Revolution, and Tilt. Shared Guided Reading answers. Finished Earth Movement's notes.

AP: Reviewed Key Issue 2 and took RCQ 1.2 (4th only)

Wednesday, September 1st

Well, welcome to September! I'm writing from home today, as I am sick. In class you guys...

Honors: Created foldables to help remember the movements of Rotation, Revolution, and Tilt

Standard: Read and answered guiding reading questions

AP: Reviewed Key Issue 2 and began on Key Issue 3

I have been brushing up on current events and found this interesting article about the backlash against educating girls in Afghanistan: http://afghanistan.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/25/officials-schoolgirls-teachers-sick-from-poison-gas/?iref=obnetwork

Tuesday, August 31st

Honors and Standard: Reviewed Map Reading Skills (Bellwork), took notes on Movement of the Earth (and how it affects us) - know rotation, revolution, and tilt. Homework = graphic organizer

AP: Finished Key Issue #4, Cultural Ecology. Homework = finish notes on pgs 25-30

Monday, August 30th

Honors: Reviewed/Revised Quiz 1.1 from Friday - note: if you earned an "F", you must get a parent signature and return it

Standard: Took Quiz 1.1 (makeups during tutoring)

AP: Discussed Environmental Determinism vs. Possibilism, RCQ2.2 on Thursday

Remembering Hurricane Katrina

Google Earth has a good post showing the before and after effects of Hurricane Katrina:

http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2010/08/remembering-hurricane-katrina.html

Model UN first meeting Sunday!!

H 

Hi Model UN students!! Don't forget that our FIRST meeting at MUS Lower School Auditorium is this Sunday from 4-6:15!!! If you can't come, the make up meeting is Sept 8th from 6-8:15. I'll see you there!

Friday, August 27th

Honors: Quiz 1.1

Standard: Reviewed Latitude and Longitude, practiced on Smart Board, learned about Time Zones, HW = study for Quiz 1.1

AP: Discussed regional geography, hw = 7th read pgs 20-25 and take notes

Thursday, August 26th

Honors: Reviewed Latitude and Longitude, learned about time zones, played Battleship Lat/Long in pairs. HW =  review for Quiz 1.1

Standard: Reviewed Map Elements, notes on Latitude and Longitude, HW: Battleship game piece


AP: Discussed Mathematical Location, hw for 4th = notes on 20-25

Another GPS article!

Court rules that police can put GPS trackers on cars without a warrant:
http://us.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/08/27/oregon.gps.surveillance/index.html

Wednesday, August 25th

Honors: Reviewed Map Elements, took up homework, notes on Latitude and Longitude, hw = Battleship game piece

Standard: Reviewed GIS/GPS, current events article, notes/vocab for Map Elements, hw = Map Elements and Skills practice sheet

AP: Current events link with China traffic jam and GPS theft, site and situation inquiry using New York

GPS in action!

From today's Commercial Appeal crime report - thief caught because of GPS in smart phone he stole.

http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/aug/24/crime-report-ex-boyfriend-charged-trying-burn-down/?partner=RSS

Interesting article about traffic in China

Traffic jam lasts 10 days - some people stuck for up to 5 days. Overpopulation?

Read the article here. 

Tuesday, August 24th

Good to see those of you at tutoring that took advantage of the opportunity to make up the Map Quiz!!

Honors: We analyzed an unknown map (a tourist map of Memphis), introduced the 4 basic Map Elements, homework = create a map of your classes at Central HS using the 4 map elements, include 4 symbols in your legend, add color. 

Standard: We reviewed Map Types for bellwork, took notes on GPS and GIS, explored examples on the Smart board, and for homework were to try out a GIS for ourselves.

AP: Began discussion on Place Names, Site, and Situation. 7th period read 14-20 and take notes.

Reminder: Quiz on Friday for Honors, on Monday for Standard!

Monday, August 23rd

I trust that all my students had a restful and productive weekend. Today in class we...

Honors: took North America Map Quiz, looked at online examples of Geographic Information Systems. HW: practice using GIS at home

Standard: took North America Map Quiz, checked and went over answers, reviewed Map Types. HW: Map Types chart

AP: Took RCQ 1.1, reviewed and exhibited GIS in Action, HW: (4th period) read 14-20 and take notes

Please note that if you did not feel pleased with your map quiz score, you can retake the map quiz at any point until the end of the nine weeks grading period. Your current grade does currently reflect your present quiz grade until you retake the quiz.

Friday, August 20th

Standard: Bellwork was a matching challenge for map projections, checked homework, reviewed map projections, learned about the fuctions of map (location versus representative) and the map types (political, physical, choropleth, isoline, historical).

Honors: Bellwork was a review of map types. Notes were on GIS and GPS and their uses/functions.

AP: Began exploring GIS. 7th period did political spectrum quiz.

Honors and Standard: North America Map Quiz on Monday - need the map? Go here.

Thursday, August 19th

Standard: turned in mental map, learned about the three categories of map projections (traditional, equal area, and compromise), examples of these maps, and the pros and cons of each. Homework is a graphic organizer chart.

Honors: turned in mental map, learned about three categories of map projections, learned about the various types and uses of maps. Homework is a graphic organizer chart.

AP: Finished manipulation of data through scale, began GIS/GPS.

Wednesday, August 18th

Honors: Checked North America Map, discussed opinions on uses of maps/purposes of maps, discussion on geographical perspective and mental maps, began notes on map projections. Homework: mental map.

Standard: Checked US Map, brainstormed uses of maps, learned about geographical perspective, mental maps. Homework: mental map.

AP: Checked 7th period reading notes, discussed Model United Nations, reviewed Map Projections and "All Maps Lie."

Tuesday, August 17th

Honors: Checked US maps, discussed places of interest within the US, took a virtual tour of North America using Google Earth and National Geographic. HW: North America Map

Standard: Checked North America map (finished/reviewed), discussed places of interest within the US, took a virtual tour of North America. HW: United States Map

AP: 4th period checked reading notes, 7th period got books for reading (pgs 2-14), discussion on scale and perspective

To download the US and North America maps, scroll down to Monday's post, links are in the post.

Interactive Notebooks - A review

Students in my world geography class do not have a textbook that they have access to. Instead, we create our own text, using the strategy called "Interactive Notebooks."

Interactive Notebooks are a spiral notebook (200+ sheet, preferably) that is just for my class. Everything we do in the class goes into this notebook. There are two types of assignments:
Right sides - Your student's notes and guided reading questions will go on this side, called the "in" side. This is where all newly learned information gets inputed to the notebook.

Left sides - Your student's bellwork, classwork, and homework goes on the left side, called the "out" side because that is where the new information gets used, practiced, and output.

Examples of things we'll do can be found here.

Marzano strategies: At CHS this year we are focusing instruction on Marzano's strategies. The interactive notebook falls in line with these strategies very well. Please visit this website for more information.

Monday, August 16th

Honors: We reviewed the 5 themes, introduced our new students, and gave out homework (a United States map, found here). Our class was abbreviated due to homeroom.

Standard: We introduced new students, labelled our Unit I title page (to use later) in our interactive notebook, and labelled a North America map (17 countries)

AP: We took up the Free Response Question from homework and took notes on an Introduction to Human Geography

A message for parents

Greetings, Parents! As syllabi are passed out, I imagine that many parents and guardians are joining my site, learning about their student's class. Please know that if you have any questions or concerns, I am always available. My email address is linked to the right. If you do not email, please just call the school (number to the right) and they will leave a message for me. I do have a few questions already from parents that I want to answer:

1) a parent asked "What if my child does not understand the homework once they get home? I want to help them but they say they don't understand."

I give homework almost every day. We introduce the idea of the homework at the beginning of the class and they write it in their agenda. At the end of the class, I show them whatever it is they need to do in more detail (which may include copying a graphic organizer, writing down a journal prompt, or some other instructions). Aside from AP, we do not have textbooks. Your student will not be answering questions from the back of the book. Instead, the assignments usually involve reviewing the ideas of the day's lesson, doing something creative with the material, writing a response or reflection, or summarizing. I always ask the students if there are any questions. If your student ever does not understand, I am always available after class for individual questions or even after school, as I stay every day. If your student does not ask, I do not know that they don't understand and cannot help them. If your student gets home and doesn't understand, I suggest calling a peer from the class.

2) after looking at my syllabus, a few parents asked about the types of movie clips we'd watch that included violence. I'd like to address that, because I do know it is a concern for some families. 

I show clips or pieces of movies to supplement the curriculum in a visual manner. Most times, these are documentaries and National Geographic clips. Yet, sometimes there are major motion pictures that do an excellent job at explaining a topic we explore. One such example is Hotel Rwanda. We will watch this towards the end of the year, when learning about genocide. Some of the scenes are graphic and violent. If that is a concern for your family, please let me know and your student will be given an alternative assignment. 

For my AP class, we will not be watching any full length films due to time constraints. There will be times we watch clips from documentaries like King Corn. There will not be rated R movies shown in my AP class.

Friday, August 13th

Standard: We write an essay entitled "My Geography" in 3rd period. The students incorporated the 5 themes of Geography into their essays, telling about their culture and goals. 5th and 6th period learned about the 5 themes. 

Honors: We reviewed the ideas behind the 5 themes by breaking into groups and doing graffiti boards for each theme, then presenting.

AP: We discussed summer work, got our FRQ topic, and turned in assignments. 

For Monday, please have spirals and colored pencils!

Thursday, August 12th

Standard, Honors: We introduced the idea of Interactive Notebooks (Right: Input, Left: Output) and learned about the 5 themes of Geography. HW was a Graphic Organizer on the 5 themes.

AP: We did a FRQ and Multiple Choice workshop, learning about the tricks and strategies for successful test taking. 

CNN: 1 in 12 babies born in US is an "anchor baby"

Students, check out this current events article on the immigration debate, focusing on the rights to citizenship a baby born on US soil to illegal immigrant parents has in the US:

http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/08/11/hispanic.study/index.html?hpt=C1

Wednesday, 8/11/10

Standard: For bellwork, we took a map pre-quiz over 10 main countries of the world. We assigned seats. 


Honors: Map Pre-Quiz, Assigned Seats, and intro to interactive notebooks


AP: We discussed Physical and Human Geography, the 5 themes of Geography, and the 7 units of the curriculum


Coming tomorrow: Honors/Standard learn 5 themes of Geography, AP gets a workshop on testing tips

Tuesday, 8/10/10

Standard/Honors Classes: Introduced the idea of bellwork and agenda, reviewed syllabus (expectations, grade policies, cheating policy, and signature), learned about necessary supplies, and reviewed the course outline.

HW - Syllabus signature, Spiral Binder

AP: Reviewed syllabus, explored website (& YIG), began learning about curriculum for test. Curriculum is linked here. Explore this page - the outline we're using is from the curriculum guide, which you can access at the top of the page.

HW - Syllabus signature, set up binder, finish summer work

Your first assignment...

Hello students, parents, and committed fans of education!

Your first homework assignment is to bring back the 2nd page of your syllabus. It needs to be signed and completed by your parent/guardian. You are to keep the first page (front and back) in your notebook for future reference.

Lost yours? Go here to download and print a new copy.

Welcome to Room 316!

Welcome to Ms. Jasper's World Geography class! Whether you are in my AP, Honors, or standard sections, you will find information about my class on this website. The postings will list in order by date and you will be able to find day-to-day information on this home page.

There are tabs at the top of the website, under my title, for each class. If you need basic information (like a link to the syllabus, rules/regulations, etc), go there.

I look forward to getting to know you all. Welcome!